Corpus-assisted segmentation exercises for simultaneous interpreting

Abstract

This article proposes a method for utilizing existing parliamentary speech corpora in order to assist interpreter trainers in the preparation of teaching materials for conference interpreting classes. To illustrate this method, a case study from the author’s teaching experience is presented. The article describes the creation of exercises for one of the interpreting strategies – segmentation – for simultaneous interpreting from English. Concessive clause sentences beginning with subordinate conjunctions, such as while and although, are used as markers for potential cases of segmentation. Following a brief introduction to segmentation as an interpreting strategy, the semi-automatic extraction of multiple examples for segmentation drills from the parliamentary corpus Europarl is outlined, and further steps for developing corpus-assisted interpreter training are discussed.